NBA: Trade to Nets finally sinks in for Pierce

NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are ready to make the most of their new surroundings.

Traded from Boston to Brooklyn, the duo was introduced along with Jason Terry on Thursday at a news conference at Barclays Center, their new home.

Pierce said it was tough to leave Boston, where he played his entire career. He appeared dazed at times while listening to questions and answers, even having to ask for one to be repeated while trying to fight his way out of a fog.

“You saw the trade and it’s like, `OK, there’s a trade.’ But for me to actually be here now, looking for a place to live, being in this arena, trying to get to know my way around the city, it’s really starting to sink in now that it’s become real,” Pierce said.

“I’m no longer a Boston Celtic, I’m a Brooklyn Net and that’s what it is right now. It’s a business. At some point we all have to move on and I’m here to try to create some kind of legacy here in Brooklyn.”

The crowd applauded, appearing more excited about having Pierce in Brooklyn than he was about being here. That’s understandable given his history in Boston, where he is the Celtics’ No. 2 career scorer and was the NBA Finals MVP when they won the last of their NBA-high 17 championships.

But he said he thought “the writing was on the wall” in June when the Celtics negotiated a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers for coach Doc Rivers, and he realized change would be coming.

The Celtics and Nets agreed to the blockbuster trade on draft night and it became official last week. Garnett waved a no-trade clause to accept the deal, and while saying it was “unfortunate” they had to move on, he seemed to have a little easier time embracing it.

“I don’t know anyone that loves change, but change has to happen for things to better,” he said.

The three newcomers were joined on the podium by general manager Billy King and first-year coach Jason Kidd, who at 40 is a longtime rival and just a few years older than his new players. And they got a visit at the end from owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who made a late decision to attend the news conference and meet the players whose salaries helped the Nets’ payroll soar so high that they will pay about $80 million in luxury tax next season.